Rendering unto Satan that which is the Lord’s

Amidst the 2018 Lunar New Year fanfare and the unfortunate bus crash just days before that, the Vatican-China disgraceful relations and Cardinal Joseph Zen’s protest against it disappeared into the background if not from everyone’s minds altogether. It was reported that the Vatican planned to relent on its position in regards to the issue of ordaining Catholic clergy in China, whereby the Holy See would accept the leadership of the Catholic Church in China being chosen by the communist regime rather than solely by the Vatican. In addition, formerly excommunicated Catholic clergy in China would be reinstated by the Vatican, while the ones officially ordained by the Holy See but forced to remain in secret were told to give up their position to the former. The Bishop Emeritus of Hong Kong, Cardinal Joseph Zen, protested against this move by first writing to the Pope in regards to the matter, and subsequently going to the Vatican himself to request an audience with Pope Francis. Although the Pope assured Zen that he was not aware of such a move and that he would not agree with it would he have been, the Vatican issued a formal statement that denounced Cardinal Zen without naming him, accusing Zen of putting words into the Pope’s mouth and defending the Vatican’s move to appease China. Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Parolin, claimed that the decision was justified in that it would provide a better foothold for the Catholic Church to evangelise in China, metaphorically describing it as “widening the bird cage”. Parolin even went so far as saying that the Chinese communist regime had been able to bring about Catholic social values without being part of the Catholic Church. Cardinal Zen retorted in his blog, lambasting that the metaphor of “widening the bird cage” is in error as it is more like forcing faithful Chinese Catholics into a bird cage. Zen also accused his fellow Cardinal Secretary of State of betraying Chinese Catholics who have been faithful in following God and Christ.

For myself, although not a Catholic but nevertheless still a Christian, I am utterly aghast at the Vatican’s venture as it not only betrays the Catholics but also the entire Christendom by being allies with the church of Satan on Earth, better known as Communist China!

Under the communist regime in China, all religious institutions are dictated to obey the regime first and foremost, with each institution’s leadership ordained by the regime. A popular photo circulating online even states that there would be no Buddha without the Chinese Communist Party! For the Tibetan Buddhist congregation, the communist regime would ordain who would be the Dalai Lama, officially declaring the true but exiled Dalai Lama as an illegal fraud. For the Catholic Church in China, although first chased out of the country not long after the communists took power as the regime is atheist in theory, there was a revival much later on but the regime demanded that it reserves the right to ordain bishops for the Church, and that its congregation must obey the Party before everything else. Is that not tantamount to saying that the Party holds its regime higher than God Himself? How can the Vatican now submit to such a blasphemous regime and still have the audacity to claim it alone represents God on Earth?!

In the Bible, Deuteronomy 22:9-11 said that followers of God should not yoke a donkey and an ox together for ploughing the field, nor to plant two kinds of seed in a vineyard, or to wear clothing knitted from a mix of linen and wool. Its meaning was further explained by Saint Paul in 2 Corinthians 6:14, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?” These scriptures are not saying followers of God and Christ should not befriend non-believers; instead the Scripture is saying Christians should not be bound or controlled by non-believers. Yet, what is the Vatican doing now but being seen in league with the church of Satan on Earth?

Why is China the church of Satan on Earth? According to Christian doctrine, human life was created by God in His own likeness, that it is sacred, and that God forbids anyone to take another person’s life; yet in China, abortion and forced abortion are rampant, where unborn babies found to be girls would be aborted and mothers illegally pregnant with a second child, if discovered, would be made to abort even if the foetus is 9 months old and due to be born. Sometimes the aborted foetuses would still be alive but were forcibly injected with lethal poison, or simply dumped in the trash whilst still alive. This is not about the abortion debate but the Catholic Church’s perennial position against abortion in general. How is the Vatican going to reconcile its position with the fact that abortions are as commonly performed in China as cosmetic surgeries in South Korea?

In addition to the pro-life issue, the Chinese regime is adamant that it is above everything, and that the Communist Party reigns supreme. How is the Vatican going to reconcile this with the first two tenets in God’s Ten Commandments: “Thou shall not have other gods before Me” and “Thou shall not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything”? Is the communist regime not holding itself above God? Are the communist regime and its willing and unwitting supporters not elevating the status of the regime’s leadership to gods on Earth, such as claiming that the Party and its leadership can do no wrong and their decisions are infallible? According to the Catholic Church, only the Pope, as the representative of God on Earth and supposedly having the sole conduit to the Divine, is infallible and before all powers and nations on Earth. How is the Vatican going to deal with a regime that denies this Catholic dogma?

On the topic of the Ten Commandments, the fifth dictates that followers of God must honour their father and mother. How is the Vatican going to work with a regime that once encouraged the people to denounce their own parents, claimed that the damned Mao (may he rot in hell) is closer to oneself than one’s parents, and even urged people to participate in the torture and execution of one’s parents accused of subverting the Party, when the Communist Party not only has not shown remorse but has even excused the atrocities it forced its people to commit against their own parents? During the right-wing persecutions, the Cultural Revolution, and the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre, the regime had murdered millions upon millions of lives and has defended such actions. How is the Vatican going to reconcile that with the sixth Commandment of “Thou shall not murder”?

Anyone who has dealt with the Chinese would know that many are dishonest and that the regime itself is a robbers’ den. In addition, giving false testimony is the Chinese’s forte as is coveting other people’s properties. How can the Vatican relate with such a satanic country? Moreover, in China, people are denied the one precious gift from God which He Himself would not and forbid Himself to deny: the freedom to choose. How can the Vatican and its Secretary of State claim that China has successfully enacted the Catholic Church’s social values?

The Vatican defends its move to appease China by saying it is widening the bird cage, and that it is necessary to make sacrifices to include more into the flock so that unbelieving Chinese may come to hear the Gospel, yet let’s not forget that first, God through Isaac has already banned human sacrifices and second, the Lord will never put His flock in danger. Yes, in Scripture the Lord has said that He would leave His flock behind to search for one lost sheep, but the unsaid understanding is that the rest of the flock will remain safe and sound in the sheep pen while He goes looking for that one lost sheep! What the Vatican is doing now is to leave a flock of sheep in the open for the wolves to attack while claiming that it must go after the lost sheep! Perhaps some Christians may say that since Christ said that there will be “tares amongst the wheat” (Matthew 13: 24-30) and “wolves disguised as sheep” (Matthew 7:15), and that the Scripture had said that God would rather not uproot the weeds for fear of uprooting the wheat, the Vatican is therefore doing the right thing in giving in to China’s demands. In the Lord’s parables, however, it is the enemy of the Lord – Satan – that went and sow weeds in God’s field; it is the lupine false prophets who climbed into the sheep pen in the dead of night. On the other hand, the Vatican is knowingly and deliberately allowing the enemy to sow weed into the Lord’s harvest and ushering in wolves into the Lord’s sheep pen!!

When Christ was asked by the Pharisees whether the people should pledge their allegiance to Caesar or to God, the Lord responded with the classic response: render unto Caesar that which are Caesar’s and to God that which belongs to Him (Matthew 22:21). The lust for power and control is Caesar’s and Satan’s, not God’s, while humanity and the gifts God had seen befitting to give unto humanity belong to God. Sovereignty over the people is God’s, not Caesar’s and certainly not the communist regime in China. True, Saint Paul in Roman 13:1 urged followers of God to obey their governments, but the other part of the clause is that the said government should be doing the work of the Lord. How often is it in the Bible where followers of God and His prophets openly and steadfastly stood up to satanic politic regimes and power? Surely the Vatican is no stranger to knowing what happened when the Judah monarchs such as Manasseh (2 Kings 21) and Ahaz (2 Kings 16) put other gods’ effigies in the Lord’s Temple, and what is the God’s Temple in this day and age but the congregation that make up the Church?! By kowtowing to the Chinese regime and its demands to install their own puppets into the Catholic Church in China, the Vatican is committing the same blasphemous crimes that Ahaz and his grandson Manasseh had done. The sentence for such a crime according to the Lord is death and eternity in hell.

While the Vatican has historically been known to side with dictators and tyrants, it has cleaned up its image under Pope John Paul II, but under this Pope Francis and the Cardinals responsible for managing the city-state, the purity of the Church is once again sullied. With the entire world looking towards the Vatican as the symbol of Christianity, it is not short of power and influence. With vaults of precious artefacts, it is not lacking in wealth. One must wonder what the real reason is behind the Vatican’s desperation in wooing China and its satanic regime. I can only urge that they abandon their move to appease the church of Satan on Earth because no earthly consequence can be compared to the hell fire that awaits them on the Other Side if they maintain the course they are going.

Render unto China that which is China’s, but do not deny or disobey God.God is forgiving of sins, but only if you repent.